EarthWorks Geospatial Catalog

Special Concern (Arctic, Least, and Common) Tern Core Habitat

Description

This dataset shows areas of "core" special concern tern habitat, represented as breeding, staging, and critical foraging areas based on a dataset from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (DFW/NHESP). The core habitats delineated for three tern species (Common, Least, and Arctic, which are state-listed as species of special concern) include documented breeding, staging (presence of 100 or more pairs), and foraging areas. The breeding and staging sites were identified and mapped by DFW/NHESP biologists and buffered 0.3 nautical miles. Within the foraging areas, DFW/NHESP biologists identified core foraging areas based upon scientific literature to represent the most important foraging areas, critical to the use of the mapped breeding and staging areas. The breeding, staging, and critical foraging areas were extracted as core habitat.
To allow for consistent evaluation and comparison of a variety of datasets with distinct spatial resolutions, accuracies, and other characteristics, the Massachusetts ocean management planning area was partitioned into 250 x 250-meter grid cells, each with a unique ID. These data were converted to the planning area grid by extracting all of the cells in which the data layer occurred. The data were then dissolved into one feature.